Promises
by FirstAidKid
Summary: After "The Gift" Spike vows to keep his promise to protect Dawn.


Title: Promises Spoilers: AU after "The Gift." Pairing: D/S Rating: Eventually R, PG for now Feedback: Yes please!  
  
Dawn rested her head on her sister's broken body, her weeping so forceful it had become inaudible. "You can't leave me," she moaned. "Buffy, no!" She wept again. Just because her sister had saved the rest of the world didn't mean it wasn't still ending for Dawn.  
  
Spike raised his face from his hands and gazed over at his departed love and her sister crying next to her. Buffy's words flashed through his mind, clear as if she were saying them now. "I'm counting on you to protect her." He would let nothing get in the way of that promise.  
  
He dried the tears from his bloodied face, stood up and walked over to where Dawn was sprawled on the ground. He squatted down beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Come on love, let's get you home."  
  
"I can't leave her here," she whimpered. "I'll take care of it," Giles had come up from behind them. Though he tried with all his might to be the adult, everyone could see his pain. "I'm so sorry Dawn. You go on home. Get some rest, we've all had a long day."  
  
Spike stood up and gave her his hand. She took it and rose, but winced and touched her stomach.  
  
"You all right?"  
  
"It hurts. I'm okay."  
  
Spike gingerly scooped up the girl and carried her home. As he entered the house, he remembered Buffy inviting him in only hours-though it seemed days- earlier. He brought her up the stairs. She got into pajamas and he cleaned her cuts. He followed her into her room as she lay down on the bed. "Need anything?" he asked quietly.  
  
She looked out her window for a minute, shook her head and turned back to him as a look of blankness crossed her face. "I killed her."  
  
"No," he stated. "You didn't. You mustn't ever think that." She stared into space and he sat down beside her on the bed and wrapped his muscular arms around her. "Dawn," he whispered into her dark hair.  
  
They sat there for hours, neither of them speaking. Then, he stroked her hair and said, "It's okay to cry you know."  
  
"She said to be strong," her voice crackled as she stared out the window at the dawn breaking.  
  
"The toughest people are strong because they let themselves grieve. Let go."  
  
A single tear slid down her cheek. She buried her head in his chest and cried and cried. Spike rocked her gently back and forth. It was nearly noon when she stopped. He didn't care. She could have cried for months and he would have sat with her. When she finally finished and his shirt was soaked, her green eyes looked up into his blue and she said, "Thank you." Then she unwrapped her arms from his neck, lay her head on the pillow and was asleep in a second. She slept all the way through to the next morning.  
  
****  
  
The two months went by in a blur. The funeral passed, and Spike and Dawn settled into a routine. The scoobies didn't approve of Spike moving into the house and becoming Dawn's guardian, but they accepted that it had been Buffy's decision, and knew he would move mountains to protect her.  
  
Spike and Dawn became best friends. They watched Passions together, avidly. They rented old horror movies and laughed at the unrealistic parts. He taught her how to fight. She taught him how to make peanut butter and blood pancakes.  
  
One night, Spike came upstairs to tell Dawn dinner was ready, and he heard crying from behind her bedroom door. "Dawn?" he asked and opened the door. She was lying on her bed, looking at a photo album. "What's up, Nibblet?"  
  
She looked up at him and wiped her tears. "Nothing, it's just.well my birthday's tomorrow, and." He sat next to her. "Every year on my birthday since I was.I don't know, seven.Buffy would get all her makeup together and make me all pretty and then her and my mom and me would all go out for dinner, a movie, and ice cream. And I got to pick everything. And now," she looked at her hands. "They're gone. I'll never have that again."  
  
Spike looked at her. "I'll take you," he said quietly.  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
"I'll take you. I mean...I won't put on your make-up and what not." He looked down and grinned.  
  
"You'd do that?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Great. It's a date." He looked back up at her. "But.I mean.not a DATE date." she blushed furiously.  
  
"Dinner's ready love," he said and glided out the door. 


End file.
